What better governance has done in Gujarat
Thanks for forwarding me this thought provoking discussion.
First let me give my views on what others wrote.
Yes, there should not be any political consideration for calling a spade a spade, whether it s for good or bad governance. I give full credit to C M of Gujarat Narendra Modi, who is governing with iron hands but very very effectively in the interest of the State, People and the Nation. Why other BJP ruled States can t show the same results,, blame the citizens of those states, as they failed to give that overwhelming mandate, as Modi has got, Such States, even for their survival, have to compromise with rival parties or individuals for each and everything. To top it, there are certain vital decisions/approvals/ areas where the Centre s permission sanctions or Central laws for implementation are required. Of course, this should not mean that those who are governing are all capable. It also depends on a team of those "Decision makers" who are at the key Governing level, their capability and resolve besides the leadership. Our P M Dr. Manmohan Singh is perhaps the highly qualified and capable person, for delivering the goods. But is it happening? Not entirely his fault but of our own "Democratic System" which is purely "Party Based" and not "Individual Merit based". He has to first give in to the party commands or to the pressure of "Saving his multi-party Government" than the need for "Good Governance".
So all that bogs down to the Democratic political system we have in our country. Opposed to this in USA, the key posts for good Governance are not manned by the elected / illiterate representatives, but by the highly educated, qualified and experienced experts in the respective fields. The most powerful office of the President is an outcome of the direct election by voters, unlike the selection of our Council of Ministers or even the President or Governors. Then, if a few intellectuals like us or even an entire electorate are not pleased with the way our elected representatives are working, have we any remedy for their Recall" even within the term, and to elect someone else who can deliver results? A BIG NO, like USA where they have this right to “recall”. All these bunch of fools or diabolical politicians, we have to go on tolerating for full term or till the Government itself is forced to resign.
Now, the answers to key questions.
As far as I am aware, there is no concept of E-bike prevailing either in Mumbai or elsewhere in the country.. Mumbaikars don t want it perhaps for their own selfish reasons.
And why only the "individuals" should care for "Petrol" consumption when the Government itself
(Central or State) is "Reducing" heavy duties on the Petrol driven cars, with a view to encourage an industrial growth? That s what happened in the Union or State budgets. It was to enable the people at large to afford petrol driven cars like NANO, irrespective of the availability of petrol, effect on environment, lack of infrastructure for parking or space for plying vehicles (Roads) etc. etc. There is still a "heavy" subsidy on "Petrol" and "Diesel" for individually owned vehicles. So where is the government discouragement? Agreed, the cost of petrol is not in our hands and it s Internationally controlled by a "Producer Cartel", but taxing heavily on the private consumption of this subsidized commodity is definitely in the Government hand. But those who Govern are just fighting for their political survival and not for controls. No wonder then that our inflation rate may still go up beyond present peak of 11.65%, if the International community do not control the crude prices. (P S> Now it has already crossed 12 percent.)
I, for one, now prefer to travel by auto or local train, instead of taking out my own car. And believe me, I feel less taxing and strenuous than driving my car on the choked roads with indiscipline road users. But it is hell of a lot of waste of time and inconvenience because again, we desperately lack a well oiled and capable system of public transport and network.
Enough of my own words. Now, I would like others to interact on this.
With best wishes for the "Good Governance of my country.
Mohan Siroya
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(NOW PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING MESSAGES/VIEWS ON WHICH MY ABOVE VIEWS ARE BASED.)
How does better governance lead to better decision making at a strategic level and why such decisions take time to be felt? Who gets benefitted by getting good people appointed in key positions? are some questions we need to ask ourselves. I am sure all these decisions would have been taken in Modi s previous term and are now starting to get implemented. Have also heard that the congress and their supporters are green with envy because of the pace of development happening in the BJP ruled states like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat with Gujarat far outstripping the others because it has always traditionally been more advanced (and Modi has had a head start by one term). Rajasthan is a BIMARU state and too big with too much baggage to show results atleast in this term of the BJP. Himachal is a small state and great results will be seen in it. Already they have the largest number of microhydel approvals and ventures and same should be the case in other parameters-- education opportunities, industrial projects etc etc. I had heard that the 3 states have reduced the licence raj with respect to education (source --wakeupcall.org) and the effect of having good educational facilities will be felt within 5-10 years in the quality of governance, in the quality of life, in the number of jobs/opportunities etc etc etc.
Kussh
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Fakhari Kanpurwala wrote:
Dear Energy Conservationist Friends, I thank Mr. Vikas for converting his car to CNG mode. I would like to inform you that the pollution level in Ahmedabad has decreased considerably (just like Delhi) owing to the fact that the govt. has compulsorily converted all the modes of public transport system which includes all the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport System (AMTS) buses which is considered to be one of the second best services after BEST of Mumbai, all the Auto Rickshaws that were previously running onPetrol and more of them on the mixture of Kerosene and Petrol and emitting very obnoxious uncombusted gases, which were causing severe eye burns, skin burns and respiratory tract problems to CNG mode completely and no Petrol is being used in these vehicles. As a result, Ahmedabad which was ranking No.1 - 3 in pollution has declined to No.12 - 14 as per the recent survey, which is a considerable achievement by the govt. Even the loading rickshaws which are used to transport luggage and heavy parcels are converted completely to CNG mode. I should thank the RTO department for very heavy monitoring and stopping and confiscating of all such nuisance making vehicles. Moreover, previously there were very few CNG stations in Ahmedabad but now there are plenty of them mainly operated by Adani Energy Ltd. More and more private vehicles like cars and even private trucks are being converted to CNG mode as it is extremely cheaper. Now, Adani is laying pipelines in most of the areas of Ahmedabad to supply Piped Natural Gas (PNG) which is again a very positive step taken by our CM whose wish is to see all the homes of Gujarat as Energy sufficient. I have to write to him that not only, these houses are made energy sufficient but they should be made Energy Efficient. The other advantage that people have got is they can now enjoy travelling in brand new vehicles like autos and buses with better facilities. With the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) to follow, more and more people are likely to use public transport systems for the irregular office works. In a recent survey by a news paper, almost 55% of people want to use Public Transport system like BRTS instead of using their private vehicles which is an extremely successful response to the municipal corporation. I am going for a walk in the morning in the famous Law Garden here and most of the people coming for the walk normally used their cars to come to the garden which was very evident by the no. of cars parked outside the garden. Now, after the increase in the petrol prices, I have observed that people have shifted to either two wheeler vehicle or they come on their trendy bicycles which has become a fashion symbol now! In short, there is tremendous awareness among people here in Ahmedabad may be thanks to the rise in petrol prices or their own conscience due to problems like global warming. Finally, Ahmedabad has seen a surge in the no. of electric two wheelers and now many companies like Yo Bikes, Hero Bikes, Ace Bikes and so on are operating in the city. Now most of the school students and college students prefer these electric bikes which are normally running 80 km before they are being recharged and are priced also reasonably in the range of 26000 to 40000 Rs. depending on the different models. I don t know the status of these E - bikes in other cities which need to be promoted. As an energy conscious person, I am planning to get one E - bike for my son who is Std. 9 which has a max. speed of 25 Km/hr and hence the problem of over speeding is also avoided. Hence, he can go to his school and classes and we can get rid of the problems of Auto rickshaws who are packing up students in such a way that the void age factor if you count shall be almost nil!! So, my appeal to my other energy conscious friends is that we should try taking lead in whatever matters that can save power without much working of techno - economics of the system.
FT KANPURWALA ESC, AHMEDABAD
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Vikas Apte wrote:
Dear Mr Dalal & Friends
As the first step to conservation of oil, i have stopped using petrol in my 4 wheeler which i use to commute for my work and self employed business needs. I have invested Rs 45,000 in fitting a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) kit from Japan. This cost includes cost of10kg CNG storage tank, CNG kit, car mechanic labour, RTO expenses for registration in RC book on use of CNG kit. The test drive results are impressive (Mumbai city travel through traffic jams and one trip to Pune and back): Rs 0.78 per km of gas as against Rs 5.5 per km of petrol. My monthly average travel is around 2000 kms. I therefore expect to recover my investment in around 2 years time. What s more, earlier i consumed around 40 to 45 litres of petrol per month. Now i fill the fuel tank only once in a month that too 5 to 8 litres as emergency reserve. I have therefore released around 35 litres of petrol for consumption to other consumers which i do not need. I CALL UPON ALL PETROL CAR OWNERS/USERS IN IAEMP TO switch over to CNG and take that bold step first to conserve energy. Conservation first begins at home. Take the bold and the right first step. Do not go too much in economics of payback, IRR, NPV, discounted cash flow, time value of money for investment that you are making by fitting a CNG kit. In fact by switching over to CNG you are utilizing precious energy which otherwise is being flared in flare stack at refineries since there are no takers for CNG as well as distribution mechanisms in place. Goodbye and have a nice day
Vikas Apte Treasurer - IAEMP
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Gangadhar Dalal wrote:
Dear Friends,
Are Indians sensitive to the need for oil conservation? Reply is "No" International oil price hike is crippling the economy of oil importing nations. Insead of offering price incentives, to offset fuel price hike, the government should offer incentives on fuel efficiency. By subsidising oil prices in the country for artificially reducing price of petro-products, are we not directly subsidising OPEC? Subsidising of oil consumption, keeps the demand high, which in turn, keeps the world oil price high. Government feels it is virtuously subsidising its own consumers but they are in fact, the victims of their subsidies as such step is preventing reduction in real demand. Only higher price of petro-products can encourage energy-efficiency or fuel-efficiency, while populist policy of lowering petro-product price prevents it. Money saved by abolishing subsidies, could be used for cutting excise duties on other items of common consumption. Inflation has crossed 11% and every week, it is shooting through roofs. There are no signs of easing due to wishful thinking of sudden crash in global oil prices or bumper harvest with adequate rainfall all over the country. Despite knowing that inflation or high prices cannot be reined in without any hopes of oil costs falling or receding, only alternative with government is to adopt energy conservation measures by implementing EC Act, 2001. This crippling disaster ought to be treated as God-sent opportunity for beginning of Energy & Fuel Conservation in the country. Can Indians now, though too late, become sensitive to the needfor energy conservation?
Regards, G.G.Dalal
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Sunil Sood wrote :
Dear friends, Today the inflation has crossed 11% mark. The main reason being international OIL prices. I am very sure that if the government takes the implementation of the EC Act, 2001,The Electricity Act, 2003, The Integrated Energy Policy,2006, and other useful policies and encourages Special Environment Zones rather than "Special Economic Zones", the inflation can again be brought down to below 5% level. We need to include conservation efforts in the GDP. The word Economics itself contains Eco but our economist friends do not seem to care.
Sunil Sood
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